Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-06-19
ALLIGATOR HUNTING.
SIN ootinR a Female Nursing q
Nest OF Young ones.

Nest OF Young ones
Have you ever enjoyed an alligator
hunt2 II you have not my experience
may be interesting. Before starting
out was told that alligator hunting
was an exciting sport. ! found it par.
ticularly so. The other day we char
tered steam launch for the trip. Our
party consisted of five. who had never
seen an alligator in his native home,
and the captain Of the launch, who was
an old sportsman in alligator hunting.
We were armed with good rifles, and
had o full supply Of ammunition.
Our destination was Lake Cypress
and Cypress river, where reports
said the alligators were plentiful. The
trip across the lake was very fine, and in
the course OF an hour we arrived at the
mouth of Distan canal, which connects
the Cypress lake with Cypress river,
and Is about ten miles long. 1t is cut
through country Of rich tropical
growth. In an hour and a half we
reached a smaller lake, and on the op.
posite side was the wished.for Cypress
river. Our trolling line had resulted in
a fine mess of fish. Finding good
camping ground we landed, built fire
and began cooking the catch, which,
with our other stores, furnished an ex.
cellent meal.
We then pushed our way up the
river, and were soon among the alligat.
ors. The first we saw was good sized
creature over eight feet long, and am
not likely to forget it for some time.
The animal lay apparently asleep on the
bank among the tall grass and palmetto
bushes. The Captain raised his rifle
and blazed away. His aim was good
and the ball struck the right eye. In
stead of making for the water, as wound.
ed alligators generally do, the creature
lay quite still. We all believed it
dead, and working the boat to
shore, we leaped on the bank with
shout of victory. One of the party and
myself caught the prize by the tail and
endeavored to pull it further up the
bank while we hailed our companions.
But the alligator was not dead. With
one flip Of the tail IL sent us heels up
wards in less time than it takes to write
the fact. The rest of the party began
to beat hasty retreat toward the boat,
while / was picking myself up.
RUN FOR DEAR LIFE.
At that moment the captain shouted
to run for dear life, as we had chit a
hornets nest" The alligator was fe.
male and was nursing nest of young.
The rest of the party got safely in the
boat, but as was nearest the wounded
alligator her sound eye soon detected
me, and the chase began. With wide
open mouth bristling with sharp teeth
she made for me, and l took to my heels.
By some means the animal got between
me and the boat and my retreat
was cut off. was not long in discov-
ering was on q small island. The alli-
gator appeared every moment to
grow larger and larger to my distorted
vision. was fairly oornered, and at
last took to the water, forgetting in my
fright that an alligator is as formidable
in the water as on land. As dashed
into the water Mrs. Alligator was close
upon me. expected every moment to
have those wide open Jaws shut about
my body. There l stood, up to my
waist in the river, and within six feet Of
mo was the maddened alligator, one eye
running with blood, the other like a
burning coal. 1 could have shot her
easily, but found that my rifle was not
loaded and all my ammunition was in
the boat.
/ was in despair and considering
whether to swim to the boat or:club my
rife and fight, when I heard rifle crack,
followed quickly by another, and the al.
ligator was q corpse. The party then
landed, built a fire and / dried my
clothes while the Others ate their din
ner. Somehow 1 did not have much
appetite left. We re.embarked and
started for more alligators. / did not
leave the boat after that, but with the
rost did some fair shooting. We killed
nine, piled all the carcasses in the
row boats behind the launch, and took
them down the river to our first camp
ing ground. There, with an ak, we cut
off all the heads and buried them. They
will be left in that place until the
teeth, which are valuable, rot out,
when they can be secured. The Captain
took off all the hides, with which we
presented him for the use of the launch.
-[Kissimee Cor. New York Mail and
Express.